Gilbert Arenas having a SICK night

[ShAuN]

I wanted to have alittle discussion about Arenas, but I wanted to ask you guys something first, is his nickname "The Arial" Or something else or does he not have one? Anyways here we go.

Ive been an Arenas fan since about mid-way through last season. He played really good, getting to the hole, good jump shooter. And the playoff series against the Bulls, when Arenas hit the game winner after the Bulls hit a bunch of 3s thats when I really started taken a like in Arenas.

This year, Arenas is just unbelievable. Its hard to imagine that hes still only 23, hes gonna be 24 on January 6th. Right now Arenas is averaging 29 points per game, 6.1 assists per game, 1.56 steals per game, hes shooting 44% from the field, 80% from th line, and 39% from the 3pt line. Hes just having a great season. And its kind of dissapointing that he wont start in the All-Star game, most likely. Wade and Iverson will beat him to the punch.

Arenas has some flaws right now, he has 1 bad game out of like every 6 or 7 games. He'll shoot like 20-30% which is dissapointing. He turns the ball over 4 times a game. THats not really good, but it doesnt seem that bad, on an average, loosing the ball once a quarter isnt really that bad. And hes only getting like 3.6 rebounds per game. If he got like 6 or 7 rebounds per game, I think theres a chance he could be a starter for the All-Star game, dont you???

I just wanted to know what you guys think of him, and were he ranks in terms of Top whatever amount of players, Top whatever amount of Guards, and were he ranks in the Eastern Conferance for Best players.

[Axel]

He's a great offensive player... leaves a little bit to be desired on defense though.

I think a bad game every so often is to be expected with any jumpshooter. He'll have an off night every so often and when he does, the Wizards will lose badly.

I think more worthy of discussion though is what happened to Antawn Jamison? He can't buy a bucket lately..

[Blue Nugget]

He sure has been surprising this season. Been lucky to have him on my fantasy team to say the least.

[ixcuincle]

He was a great acquisition for the Wizards. I don't find him surprising since he's done what he did last year which is score points , and lots of them. He's clearly not the best point guard in the East , Chauncey and J. Kidd are far better , but he is improving and fast. I would place him in the Top 6 of point guards in the East.

And as you said he will have the off-game all of a sudden. I remember when he went crazy against Seattle at MCI and then a couple of games later he was nowhere to be seen. If only he could contribute around 30 ppg like Kobe...one can only dream how phenomenal the Wizards would be.

Antawn has been off , but I think he's starting to get his stuff together now. And as angry as I am about Hughes bailing the District for Cleveland , he's been replaced by Caron Butler who doesn't score as much points but is a better substitute than the waste of a #1 pick known as Kwame "Failure" Brown.

[ShAuN]

I mean, hes averaging 29ppg, and hes already had like 40+ point nights. Hes soooo capable of 50. I wouldnt consider him really a PG. He can be if he wants to be or whatever, but hes definatly a Shoot First Point Guard. I watched I think it was the Bulls VS Wizards game a few weeks ago, Arenas had 42 points with 9 Minutes left in the game! He could have had a 55 point night, but he got like 5 or 6 assists in the last 9 minutes. So I mean, he can be a Point guard when he wants, thats whats cool about him. Id put him at top 4 or 5 Point Guards in the East, Top 10 overall point guards. And I think a Top 10 Player. Just if he could grab 5-7 rpg, have alittle more consistency, and slightly improve on the defensive end, hed be a great player. But hes still really young, thats good too.

[hipn]

A PG? I would consider him a SG.

[ShAuN]

Technically hes a PG. He starts at the 1, and......who starts at the 2? Daniels?? or Butler? Anyways yea id play him at point because Id want him bringing the ball up. Hes the best passer on the team.

[SnitchDevil]

Hes the best passer on the team.

And people say Kobe's a ballhog. Arenas is worse than Kobe.

[air gordon]

er arenas averages less shots and more assists per contest then your savior

[ShAuN]

SnitchDevil

Kobe takes 26 shots per game, were as Arenas takes 21 shots a game. Heres the statistical Comparison:

Arenas VS Kobe

29ppg || 32.1ppg - Kobe
3.4rpg || 5.4rpg - Kobe
6.1apg || 4.4apg - Arenas
1.56spg || 1.16spg - Arenas
44%fg || 44.2%fg - Kobe
80.6%ft || 81.2%ft - Kobe
39%3pt || 28.2%3pt - Arenas

Shots Per Game - Arenas 21.2 || Kobe 26.1
Shots Made Per Game - Arenas 9.3 || Kobe 11.5
If Arenas shot the ball 5 more times a game, Arenas would average the same or more than Kobe.

Free Throws Per Game - Arenas 9.1 || Kobe 10.1
Free Throws Made Per Game - Arenas 7.3 || Kobe 8.2

Three Pointers Per Game - Arenas 7.8 || Kobe 4.0
Three Pointers Made Per Game - Arenas 3.1 || Kobe 1.1

With this said, they both are really really close stat wise. I think Kobe is a better leader since hes worked with Phil and Shaq and hes 3 years older than Arenas.

All these stats are unbelievabley close.

[Emiliano]

That's one thing I don't like about Arenas: He throws up too many threes...

[ShAuN]

Hey whatsup Em? I havnt talked to you in a long, long time. But yea, I accually forgot to write that, Another thing he needs to improve on is his Basketball IQ, takes shit shots. If he shot 4 3s a game, and drove to the hoop 4 more times, hed probally get 6 more points, lol.

[Emiliano]

Long time no talk, glad to see you write more often. The thing about Arenas is that he is still very young. As he gets older, his basketball IQ will increase.

[Jugs]

Ive been an Arenas fan since about mid-way through last season.

That's makes you a bandwagoner

Everybody does some bandwagoning once in a while...

[ShAuN]

LoL, whats a bandwagoner???

[Andrew]

A warm weather fan. Someone who supports a team or player ("jumping on the bandwagon") while they're doing well but changes allegiances when the going gets tough. It usually happens with championship teams. There's always a contingent of fans of the current championship team that mysteriously had another favourite team three years ago while they were on top of the league.

[Emiliano]

Wizards lost. Gilbert shot 7-23FG and 0-6 3pt
He should cut down on gunning so many three's

[ShAuN]

Yea I hate when he has this type of night 7-23 isnt AWFUL, but if he only shot 2 or 3 3s he would have shot atleast 35%

[Its_asdf]

One thing that kind of irritates me about Arenas is his shot selection.

The guy takes 7.8 three pointers a game, and while he does hit a lot of them, its always bad to settle for perimeter shots too often.

[ShAuN]

Yea especially when he can get to the hoop almost as good as Wade can. I hate that

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

I love Gilbert. He played for us for two years, and his work ethic is still unquestioned. The guy is a veteran, and still, if it escapes you, is only 23 years old.

[fgrep15]

Arenas has his bad nights, he's still developing as a player, and still maturing with his game, remember he's only 23 years old.

With that said, Arenas is a more efficient scorer than Kobe. Out of the Top 15 scorers, Arenas is 4th in TS% behind Brand, Lebron and Redd whole are all killing in terms of scoring efficiency.

Arenas is the best passer, shooter, scorer, slasher, basically eveything offensively except for post scorer on his team. While he does take a lot of shots, he runs the offense, and it's kinda of part of the teams plan for him to do that because their isn't a real post presence, he's the best outside shooter on the team [yes, better than Chucky], is the one that has to spread the floor, but also penetrate and put pressure on the opposing big's, and then also run the offense and create for others too.

Defense is where Arenas lacks. He's not a terrible defender, but not a good one either, he's average at best, but does have the potential to be good. A lot of people don't want to put him in the superstar range because of defense, but Lebron, Tmac when in Orlando, Nash [he's considered on I think], etc are/were all consider "superstars" without being good defenders. Arenas right now is not a superstar though, but he's in the position between All-Star and Superstar. He's better than the All-Star perimeter guys like Redd etc, but not as good as the superstar guys.

One thing that kind of irritates me about Arenas is his shot selection.

The guy takes 7.8 three pointers a game, and while he does hit a lot of them, its always bad to settle for perimeter shots too often.

I agree, but with how good a shooter he is, you can't fault him. He's taking as many three's as Ray Allen, while making a much better percentage this season, that's quite impressive, and even matching Allen's percentages last season. Anyone can take a lot of three's and shoot 31-34%, but he's shooting 37.8%, and before last nights game was at 39%. He's making a case as one of the best shooters in the league.

[Fenix]

Was there ever a guy drafted in the second round who ended up averaging nearly 29 points per game?

[Andrew]

Alex English.

[Fenix]

Good point, but why exactly did Arenas fall into the second round? If Mobley can play SG in this league, so can Arenas and he is quicker and faster than he is. Why does Ben Gordon get drafted at #3 then?